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OPINION

Strickland seems back on track

He suffered three losses in his first outings for Congress before he won a seat in 1992. He’s won more races than he’s lost, so when he was defeated by John Kasich in the last Ohio governor’s race, few imagined Strickland would retire. He’s back, this time challenging incumbent Rob Portman for the U.S. Senate.

It’s going to be an interesting race. Both Southern Ohio men epitomize, in their upbringing and background, their political parties. Portman, a Republican, was born into a Hamilton County family that developed very successful businesses. His family owns the famous Golden Lamb restaurant of Lebanon, while Strickland’s family saw real hard times, living in a chicken shack at one point when their house burned.

Strickland, a Democrat, was the son of a steel worker in Scioto County, but he managed to work up to a Ph.D. in psychology from the University of Kentucky. Portman attended Dartmouth and received a law degree from the University of Michigan.

Strickland worked as a prison psychologist before being elected to Congress. Portman wound up working for both Bush administrations in Washington, as trade representative, then budget director for George W. Bush. He strongly supported the balanced budget amendment. Portman voted to authorize Bush’s 2003 invasion of Iraq, an issue getting fresh attention in the lead-up to 2016. Strickland voted no on the authorization of that war, as did the majority of House Democrats, and he has called it one of his most important votes.

Neither man is at the extreme of his party, with Portman even coming out for gay marriage after discovering he had a gay son. But the two men disagree substantially on economic policy, and Portman opposed an increase in the federal minimum wage, which Strickland wholeheartedly supports. Portman voted against the economic stimulus of 2009, which, seemingly, was a major factor in pulling the nation out of the Great Recession inherited by President Barack Obama. It was particularly important in Ohio, where federal assistance to the auto industry helped all of Ohio’s auto and truck plants, and their suppliers, survive and now thrive.

Portman’s opposition to the stimulus was in keeping with his favoring a restriction on federal spending, even when businesses are slowing down or collapsing. A majority of economists, including some conservatives, agree that in an economic slowdown, the feds should judiciously spend more to stimulate the economy. If the Constitution were amended, as Portman and most Republicans favor, to require a balanced budget, the government would have to spend less, thus likely prolonging any recession.

On environmental and energy issues, Strickland, as governor, worked to build a strong alternative energy program in Ohio, pushing solar and wind, while Portman has favored more reliance on nuclear energy and drilling for oil and gas on public lands. And, on health care, Portman has joined fellow Republicans in attempting to repeal the Affordable Care Act — Obamacare — which provides insurance for more than 234,000 Ohioans and which guarantees that no one can be denied coverage for pre-existing conditions. It also creates health care jobs.

Since the passage of Obamacare, health care costs have been rising more slowly than before. No Republican alternative plan has ever emerged, so voters would seemingly have the choice in 2016, to vote for Strickland and the Democrats and keep Obamacare, or for Portman and the Republicans and go back to the health care situation before the ACA.

Polls show Strickland with a significant early lead over Portman. This could be because Strickland is better known statewide, or because there are more Democrats. But Portman’s campaign will be well funded, with likely more money than Strickland’s, so the former governor will have to campaign hard to hold his lead. He also has to defeat underdog challenger P.G. Sittenfeld, a 30-year-old Cincinnati city council member.

Strickland seems clear about putting himself on the side of middle class working people. Believing that the best way to grow and sustain an economy is to make sure average people have decent wages and enough money to spend — which ultimately benefits business owners as well — Strickland says in that regard, “We all do better, when we all do better.”

Jack Burgess is a retired teacher of American and global studies and a member of the Gazette’s board of contributors.